Flowering rhubarb?!?

[Scottishnewbie]

Not sure if this is the right place so please move if I've got it wrong mods - many thanks.

Was wandering through the garden today (as you do!) and noticed that the rhubarb I grew from seed last year was just beginning to sprout a rather lovely flower from it's middle! Now I don't know much, but I do know that we don't want lots of veggies to flower as that's them running to seed but it seems a wee bit strange for my rhubarb to be doing it in April.....any ideas anyone?

for info I picked it off and then wondered if that was the right thing to do or not......arguably a wee bit late to ask if it was the right thing to do AFTER I've picked it off!!!! Hey-ho!

Many thanks

Laura

[rogesse]

My rhubarb seems to be determined to flower this year and per advice from this site I've taken out the flowers. I was told by somebody wiser that it was either hungry, thirsty or both - Twosheds I think. Any hoo I weeded, fed with chicken poo and nearly drowned the poor plant - it is now a totally different beastie bursting with nice shoots!

[lyndap]

yes you have done right.Remove flower buds as soon as you see them.

[rana]

Oddly, I have noticed a lot of rhubarb plants with flower buds this year. Is it down to Global Warming ?????????????

[womble]

Although we can blame alot of things on global warming, I don't think Rhubarb flowering can be one of them

[rana]

Although we can blame alot of things on global warming

There are plenty of pundits out there that will blame almost anything on Global Warming - so why not flowering rhubarb ??????????

[womble]

Because we aren't idiot pundits?

[Nicos]

My neighbours were away for a few days and I noticed their rhubarb bursting into flower- so I cut it off for them!

...and then had a bit of a panic at interfering as I half expected them to tell me some French gardening fact as to why it should be left on until the 3rd quarter of the moon cycle ...or something to make me regret 'helping' them

As it turned out - they were really pleased I'd done it ( phew eh??)

I've heard that they die after they've flowered...can anyone actually confirm that's the case????

[Rhona]

Only yesterday I noticed loads of rhubarb flowering and thought it seemed a wee bit unusual - seems to happening all over the place then.

[pdblake]

One of mine seems to be flowering too.

[Flummery]

My neighbours were away for a few days and I noticed their rhubarb bursting into flower- so I cut it off for them!

...and then had a bit of a panic at interfering as I half expected them to tell me some French gardening fact as to why it should be left on until the 3rd quarter of the moon cycle ...or something to make me regret 'helping' them

As it turned out - they were really pleased I'd done it ( phew eh??)

I've heard that they die after they've flowered...can anyone actually confirm that's the case????

No they don't - or much of the rhubarb on our allotment site would be dead by now. Lots of people's flowered last year. Just hoik out the flowering stem and give the plant a bit of TLC - flowering early in the season is usually a cry for help!

[hamsterqueen]

I have 2 types of rhubarb, TImperley Early which is now 4 years old and has never flowered and a 3 year old champagne rhubarb which flowered last year and this. I've treated them both the same

[gojiberry]

I find that most rhubarb will throw up a flower spike, and mine is manured every winter. If it is only a single flower spike then it is nothing to worry about. If however it keeps trying to flower and when you cut one stalk off another appears in a week or so then you need to look at what is stressing the plant out.

Ian

[Scottishnewbie]

Thanks folks, apparently victoria (which mine is), is the one of the ones most likely to flower. Funny how all these plants are hundreds of miles away from each other and yet there are so many of them flowering. We have horses and chickens, so there is always lots of manure to go around so i doubt if it's that but i wonder if it's to do with the really dry few weeks we've been having......lots of rain over last couple of days so hopefully that's the end of it now. Thanks for advice

[Emmylou]

I moved and split some old rhubarb, from a neglected spot in the garden to the allotment we got last year. One of the plants is starting to flower, so I'll chop it off tommorow!! I've never known it flower before, could it be the stress of moving it?